Congress has thrown a lifeline to families getting housing assistance from a COVID-era federal program that was set to run out of money starting this fall.
A September temporary spending bill directed housing authorities to transition residents at risk of losing their rental assistance to a new housing program, and provided funding for the additional families.
The new policy keeps almost 400 homes across San Diego County at the same rent, most of them in the city of San Diego.
“This is significant news because these are among some of the most vulnerable families we serve,” said Scott Marshall, a spokesperson for the San Diego Housing Commission. “They would be at high risk of returning to homelessness without voucher assistance.”
The Emergency Housing Voucher program was created in 2021 as part of the American Rescue plan, a $1.9 trillion relief package from President Joe Biden during the COVID-19 pandemic. The program distributed 70,000 housing assistance vouchers meant to last until 2030, but the rising cost of housing meant that the federal aid ran out early nationwide.
The program’s seeming end set off a panic among housing authorities across San Diego County, where Section 8 waitlists had closed because housing vouchers were dwindling and financially strapped providers had no alternative programs to relocate families.
Now, families still getting emergency housing vouchers can be transitioned to another program called tenant protection vouchers.
New program guidance on Sept. 30 from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development allows housing authorities to keep families housed until at least the end of the year, then Congress will have to approve further spending, as they do in every budget for other programs like Section 8.
“Ultimately, folks remain on assistance,” Kim Johnson, the senior policy director at the National Low Income Housing Coalition, said. “It’s just under a different name.”
Johnson said she was relatively confident the funding would continue to be renewed, even in the event of a government shutdown.
Families can likely stay on tenant protection vouchers until they no longer need assistance. Those vouchers are federal rental subsidies that let people maintain access to assistance when other HUD programs end or change.
Marshall said tenant protection vouchers have historically been funded as long as the original family accepts the federal aid, and then they expire. They can’t be turned over to new families
The San Diego County Housing Commission has already transitioned 139 emergency housing voucher households to other federal assistance programs like Section 8 or project-based vouchers, which require residents to move to a specific place. Families who have already moved to project based vouchers won’t be able to get the mobile tenant protection vouchers.
The 40 remaining households will be transitioned.
Gilberto Vera, director of housing justice collaborative, policy and training at the Legal Aid Society of San Diego, said this was good news in the short-term.
He added that families with emergency housing vouchers should reach out to their caseworkers to let them know they are still in the program, and that landlords can be confident they will receive the same payments.
“Don’t preemptively start evicting someone,” he said.
